The one rapper Eminem credits with mastering the art of freestyling
Freestyling is a unique skill, and not every rapper is necessarily very good at it. Eminem, though, is one of its masters.
When he was a kid learning how to rap, Eminem used to engage in freestyle battles in school alongside his friend Proof. It was experiences such as these that ultimately shaped the rapper that Em would one day become, and, indeed, it is said that freestyling is what initially brought him to Dr Dre’s attention and led to his big break.
Eminem understands better than most how freestyling works, so his opinion on the matter counts for a lot. And, from his perspective, one of the best to ever do it was someone that he once collaborated with.
On the track ‘Godzilla,’ lifted from his eleventh album Music to Be Murdered By, Em recruited Juice WRLD to perform on the chorus. Still a young man at the time of the collaboration, this experience must have been a dream come true for Juice WRLD, who was known for his love of Em’s music.
Juice WRLD had previously cited Eminem as a major influence, and, while showing off his freestyling abilities during an appearance on Tim Westwood’s show on Capital XTRA, he rapped over a number of Em’s tracks for almost an hour. This did not escape the attention of Em himself.
Sadly, before ‘Godzilla’ was even released, Juice WRLD lost his life to a drug overdose in 2019. He was only 21 years of age at the time. ‘Godzilla’ came out a month later, the first of several posthumous releases to come.
Reflecting on the loss of Juice WRLD during a conversation with rapper Kxng Crooked on his Crook’s Corner series, Em specifically brought up Juice’s freestyling skills as something of note. He’d seen his performance on Westwood’s show.
“That kid was so talented,” Em said, “like his freestyle he did on Tim Westwood—what the fuck? To be so young, he mastered that so fucking quickly. His potential was so off the charts.”
What Em felt that Juice had mastered was the ability to incorporate pre-written lines into his freestyles. Not everything needs to be entirely off the cuff in a freestyle, but the ability “to slip in and out of written when you need to” is itself a special skill. Em recognised that Juice WRLD had figured that out early, and he admired the young man for it.